The Prophecy
by darkwoodsdreamer
Summary: Dumbledore holds the meeting in which James, Lily, Frank and Alice discover the threat on their lives and the lives of their sons.


**AN: This was written for Week 2: First Aid in Camp Potter II. The prompts were, "1) fragile, 2) slamming doors, 3) 'We can never starve our loneliness. We can only hope that, by the company of others, it doesn't devour us.' - Christopher Pointdexter.**

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Everyone was restless today, Sirius realized as he walked into the room. A certain amount of worry or tension was normal for an Order meeting, but today it seemed as though everyone had something weighing heavily on their mind. Sirius took his usual chair between Remus and James, with Lily next to James and Peter across from him. The Prewetts were on Peter's right, and the Longbottoms to his left. Benjey Fenwick sat at the end of the table. Dumbledore sat at the table's head. Quite a few people were missing today. It was always unsettling when there were few people, and it wasn't helping the atmosphere.

"I have grave news to report." Dumbledore began once it became clear that no one else would be showing up. "First, there are two families among us that may be in very great danger from Voldemort himself. One is the Longbottoms." The blood left Alice's face and she gripped Frank's hand. "The other is the Potters." Rather than turning white, James's face went a pale green. Lily rested a hand on his and Sirius gripped his shoulder.

Dumbledore paused a moment before continuing. "Sybil Trelawny has given a prophecy-"

"Trelawny?" Gideon interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "This is about Trelawny?"

Fabian rolled his eyes. "Thanks for scaring the hell out of us for nothing, Dumbledore."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, everyone gave a nervous chuckle. "Usually, I might agree with you." he told the twins. "This time, however, I'm afraid Sybil was quite correct in her speech."

"How do you know?" Benjey asked him.

"Lord Voldemort believes it." he responded calmly. That was enough to shut them all up. They may have believed him evil, but they knew he wasn't stupid. In fact, Sirius thought he must be the smartest man on the planet to pull of the kind of heist that he was without being stopped yet. "Continuing on, Sybil has said to me that a boy who was born at the end of the seventh month of the year to parents whom have defied Voldemort three times shall be his downfall."

"Like Neville." Alice whispered.

"And Harry." Lily put in, and the women exchanged fearful looks for their sons. Lily reached across the table and Alice took her hand, gripping it tightly for a moment.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, like Neville and Harry."

Sirius sat back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, thinking. "And there's no one else it could be?"

"Not to my knowledge, Sirius."

James looked up. "What if it's another boy, someone you don't know?"

Remus and Frank both shook their heads. "Doesn't make sense." Frank said.

"If it was another child," Remus explained at the confused looks, "someone Dumbledore didn't know, Sybil wouldn't have delivered the prophecy to him."

"Maybe she didn't mean to deliver it to you, Dumbledore." Fabian suggested.

"Yeah, maybe she meant for it to be to someone else wherever you were, but because she's not very good she couldn't control it and it just... slipped out?"

Fabian looked at his brother for a moment. "Well, now that I hear you say it, it just sounds stupid." Gideon rolled his eyes.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Not at all, Fabian. It was a good idea."

"He's just being nice." Sirius whisper-shouted to him, and there were a couple titters. Remus rolled his eyes and hit Sirius in the arm, whom mock-pouted and rubbed where he was hit.

"There's more." Dumbledore said, and they fell silent and redirected his attention. "Severus Snape overheard the prophecy. He has no doubt reported to Voldemort, although I do not yet know which of your children it is that he's chosen."

"How will you know?" Frank asked.

James nodded and leaned forward with an anxious look. "Will we know before he comes to kill us?"

"He never said anything about murder." Peter pipped up, his look mirroring the anxiety in James's face.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Right, he's going to march in and ask politely that they please not let Harry or Neville ruin his plans for world domination." Peter looked down.

"That's not what I meant, Sirius." He said quietly. "Just that... what point would he have to kill?"

Sirius opened his mouth to retort sarcastically, but Remus cut him across with a glare. "He doesn't need a reason." he told Peter, his voice a little gentler. "You know that."

Peter sighed, and Dumbledore continued on. "I have ways. I will make it the highest priority that we discover who it is-"

James's snort cut Dumbledore off. The whole table turned to look at him. "Oh, good, you have a way." he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Don't worry, all, no one else is going to die because _Dumbledore has ways_." He wiggled his finger as he said the last words.

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look. "James." They both said in low, warning voices. James was panicking now, and he'd never responded that well to stress. Sirius had dealt with the bulk of James's panic attacks since they'd first met, and he knew that James could go from sarcastic and fidgety to violent at drop of a hat. Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius saw Peter put a wary hand on his wand.

"If there's a problem, James-" Dumbledore began with a hint of surprise and confusion, but he was cut across again.

"There is, actually." Heat was quickly rising in his voice as he leaned forward. The look he was giving Dumbledore was formidable. "I do have quite the problem with not knowing whether my son will live to see his second birthday." Lily put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"James, that's enough." She said sternly, but he didn't pay her any mind.

"I would love to know exactly what you plan to do to keep my family safe. But no, all I get is that _you have ways. _No details, not from Albus Dumbledore, not even when it means the lives of my family. You just keep all the information to yourself, deal out things on a need-to-know basis to us little people, right? But only you get to decide who needs to know what, and apparently the protection of my only child isn't something that I need to be clued in on!"

James was standing now, clenched hands on the table. His breathing came ragged, as though he had just won a race. He glared at Dumbledore. Lily stared dejectedly at her hands, folded neatly on the table. Sirius and her exchanged a look and a nod. Best not to interrupt him now. They might still be able to calm him down once he'd gotten it all out of his system.

Dumbledore didn't seem to be clued in. "James, sit down." he said, his voice firm. "Sit, so we may discuss this."

"No!" James shouted back childishly. _Well, _Sirius thought. _Dumbles already ruined it. Might as well... _

Sirius stood as well. "For once," he shouted back at his friend, "Sit down and listen to bloody reason!"

"Lay down so you can all steamroll right over me? Hell, no! I have a right to know-"

"No one can tell you if you keep bloody carrying on with your nonsense! Give the man a chance to explain!" He roared over him. James shoved him backwards. Sirius reached out, fully prepared to pin him down and punch some sense into him.

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore roared, on his feet as well. Both friends froze and turned towards him. "Sit down, both of you!" he ordered them. It took a moment, but slowly James settled himself back into his seat, looking equally terrified and furious. Sirius didn't sit until he had.

Dumbledore remained standing. "I will explain everything, of course. You needed only to ask." James looked down, face sufficiently abashed. "Voldemort does not know which one of your boys the prophecy refers to. He will spend time trying to decide. Young Neville may have a higher chance of being attacked, given his blood status."

Everyone glanced at Lily momentarily, looking for a reaction. "What?" she asked. "He's right. Neville is a pureblood, Harry's a halfblood. If Voldemort prizes pure blood as much as he says, he'll think it's Neville."

"Precisely, Lily." He nodded at her. "I would recommend immediately going into hiding, Frank, Alice." He said gently, turning towards them. "And also a Fidelus Charm, I should think. Spend some time thinking whom you would like as your Secret Keeper."

"Frank's mother." Alice suggested immediately, looking at her husband. Frank nodded.

"My mother's always been a tough old bird." he said, and a few nervous laughs were heard. They had all met Mrs. Longbottom; 'tough old bird' didn't even begin to describe it. "She wouldn't give us up if it meant her life."

There was half a moment of silence. "And us, Dumbledore?" James asked.

"The same, James." He said, turning to the Potter's now. "As long as your certain none of Voldemort's Death Eaters know where you live, you may stay in your own house."

Frank shook his head. "I'm sure they know where we are." he said dejectedly. "They might know your house too, Potter."

Lily looked at James. "I don't think so. Would they, James?" she turned towards Frank. "We've only just moved."

Dumbledore nodded. "I think you are right, Lily. It is unlikely that Voldemort knows either of your locations. You should both be safe in your own homes."

"Dumbledore, don't you think they'd be keeping a close eye on purebloods as well?" Frank asked, leaning forward. Dumbledore shook his head.

"Not on blood traitors." he said. "Potters, think whom you would like for your Secret Keeper as well."

It didn't take James more than a second. "Sirius."

Lily didn't look so sure. "What about my sister?" she asked.

"Petunia?" James snorted. "Lily, you can't be serious. She'd give you up in a heartbeat."

She winced slightly "But they wouldn't think to go after her, is the point."

"And if they did, she wouldn't have any way to defend herself." Sirius pointed out. "I'll do it."

"It's a bit obvious, don't you think?" Benjey pipped up from the end of the table.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he said, looking around at the others. "Everyone knows that you two were best friends at Hogwarts. If it were me, I'd go for him first." Nods around the table.

Sirius frowned, but he knew the were right. He crossed his arms and sat back. He looked around at the others at the table, biting his lip in thought. Another Marauder, of course, but which one? He looked sideways at Remus. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't totally trust him. Remus and him had always been close and he was probably one of the best wizards at this table, but he couldn't bring himself to put forth the name. "Peter, then." James blinked, then looked over at him.

"Me?" Peter squeaked, his eyes going wide. "I... I'm not very strong. I couldn't p-protect you-"

"Nonsense, Pete!" James leaned forward. "You became an-" he stopped suddenly, and Sirius knew he'd only just stopped himself from saying, 'Animagus'. "An... a great prankster at Hogwarts, didn't you? You're just as strong as the rest of us."

"It's a brilliant idea." Remus agreed. Something was off in his voice, and Sirius knew he'd figured out his thoughts. Remus always knew his thoughts. He crossed his arms tighter over his body, feeling somewhat guilty.

Dumbledore nodded. "That's that, then." he finally sat. "I would suggest that both of you begin working on your protection right away." he looked around the table. "Which leaves us with too little in the way of members to conduct a meeting. So, with that, meeting adjourned."

Immediately, James and Lily stood, said a quick muttered goodbye, and Apparated away. Sirius, James, and Peter quickly followed, knowing exactly where they were going. As he turned on the spot, Sirius had an odd feeling that he sat in this room.


End file.
